Six Million Reasons Why Public Sector Out-performs

No, it's not a misprint. The conventional wisdom which says that the private sector is always more economical just is not true.

Courtesy of the Cedar Lounge Revolution ("for lefties too stubborn to quit"), I learn that motorway constructed by the private sector cost at least EUR 8 million more - per kilometre ! - than the public sector.

Comments

[OpinionEight]

The use of the The Comptroller & Auditor General as an absolute point of reference is a fundamental error. This office is not an expert office in commercial financial affairs and neither does it disclose the basis on which is makes it’s cost judgements.

Measuring costs in the Public Sector is a very difficult and often subjective action. Many costs are indirect and shared with other activities. Many costs are hidden and not apparent under normal commercialy based examination.

The Public Sector often appears to save money because of it’s immunity to Health & Safety responsibilities, Insurance risks and other indirect costs.

The Public Sector also acts without accountability. It wastes millions of euros on road building errors, on enormous overspending on capital projects documented at length in recent years. None of these errors and mistakes are taken into account in The Comptroller & Auditor General reports.

Hence the very basis of the PPP debate above is moot.

[Fergus O'Rourke]

This is an extraordinary comment. It is not true that the public sector is immune "to Health & Safety responsibilities", to name just one error. The commenter left an e-mail address which appears to be non-functional and uses the nom-de-plume of "OpinionEight". There used to be a website of that name but it appears to be defunct.